Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Poppins returns!  I think we were all looking forward to this movie!  And while I may have a few concerns, I still found it quite enjoyable. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emily Blunt put in a great effort; they have great energy and voices and are very endearing. The special effects  and costumes were dazzling.  I even enjoyed the opening song.  So how could a movie with all of this going for it, end up not quite getting there?  “Mary Poppins Returns” really had several strikes against it before it even started.  First of all, the orginal Mary Poppins was so well-loved and has been a classic ever since it first came out.  So this movie had to live up to some pretty lofty expectations, and that’s a very high bar to reach. Next, the original movie had toe-tapping songs that you sang as you left the theatre.  Who can forget the catchy earworm “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?”  Or the joy of “Let’s Go Fly a Kite?” Or the sweet sadness of “Feed the Birds?”  Third, Julie Anderews sparkled as Mary Poppins and had the singing range to hit those high, operatic notes.  Last of all, the movie had heart.  The newest reincarnation would probably find a more apprecative audience if we had never seen the original.  But we did, and so we can’t help but judge this new one by comparing it to the older one.  Sorry, but the newer one comes up short.  I would say one of the biggest disappointments is the songs.  I can’t remember one, even the one at the beginning that I liked.  Yes, there was one about a book and another about going up with a balloon, but I don’t remember any of the lyrics or melodies.  I found the grown up Michael Banks to be rather dim-witted and ineffective, you didn’t end up ‘rooting’ for Ben Whishaw like you did for David Tomlinson. The plot was not involving or even mildly tense.  I love Meryl Streep, but she was utterly wasted as a cousin of Mary Poppins named Topsy whose presence was suppose to be a hommage, I suppose, to Ed Wynn’s “I Love to Laugh” in the original.  I am not saying this is a bad movie, I think kids who haven’t seen the original will love it, and I did enjoy the performances of the two leads.  There are also cameos by Dick Van Dyke and Angela Landsbury that I found delightful.  I just wish I found the rest of the movie as charming.